Zhang Xun got up at three o'clock in the morning, briefly freshened up, and started tai chi in the courtyard, and after three times, Zhang Xun said to himself: "Zhang Xun, go ahead! ”

The college examination is the last large-scale examination before the palace examination, and for these candidates, its cruelty is better than that of Zhang Xun's previous life in the Chinese college entrance examination. There is a set of cumbersome etiquette before the start of the college examination, and all candidates must enter the examination hall before 5 o'clock, and late arrivals will be regarded as abstentions. At 5 o'clock, the test room will be assigned by name, and then the body will be searched and checked to avoid cheating in the entrainment. Finally, after the sacrifice is completed, everyone will be seated according to the previously allocated examination room, and the examination will officially start at seven o'clock, which will last for three days (25 hours to be precise, and end at eight o'clock in the morning on the third day.) You can't leave the test room in the middle of the test.

The examination room that Zhang Xun was assigned to was No. 1, and the natural facilities were the best, but Zhang Xun didn't care about these. It's 6:50 a.m., and there are still 10 minutes left before the exam starts. Zhang Xun got up and moved his body and sat down again. At this time, the staff of the examination center will deliver the test papers, close the door and lock it, and the test will begin.

Zhang Xun didn't start answering the questions, first read the paper except for the final composition, then wrote his name on the test paper, and answered the questions on scratch paper. The first question is completely a score question: "Three hundred poems, in a word, the answer is, of course, to think innocently." In this way, when Zhang Xun felt hungry, he had already answered half of the previous questions. Zhang Xun put the roll away so as not to stain it. He took the dry food he had brought and ate it, and after eating it, he took a nap for a while. After waking up, he washed his face, returned to the table and continued to answer the questions, Zhang Xun also knew that for him, the previous questions were not difficult at all. At dusk, Zhang Xun had finished answering the previous questions on the scratch paper, and after checking it once, he wrote the answers on the test paper without finding any mistakes. Zhang Xun thought that if he had enough time, it would be better to write an essay tomorrow morning. After eating some flatbread and washing his face, he covered himself with a quilt and went to sleep.

In the early morning of the second day, Zhang Xun woke up, and the adequate sleep last night made him feel very good. When he turned the test paper to the last page and saw the essay question, Zhang Xun smiled, this is God wants to cheat himself! In the last paragraph, "Li's Zipan, seventeen years old" was changed to "Du's Zili, fourteen years old", and the article that I thought had a headache was completed in this way. Zhang Xun didn't write an essay on scratch paper this time, he was too familiar with "Shi Said", so he just changed seven words and wrote it directly on the test paper.

Du Li is the eldest grandson of Du Qing, the head of Dujia Village, and is the eldest child in the group of children who taught Zhang Xun "Thousand Character Text" this time. Zhang Xun observed that Du Li's receptivity was second only to Du Gang's seven-year-old son Du Wenli. (The little guy insisted that Zhang Xun give him a nice name, of course Du Gang and his wife had no opinion, so Zhang Xun named him Wenli.) Zhang Xun decided to pay more attention to Dujia Village in the future, and when he had time, he would personally educate those children to become talents.

The test paper was completed, considering the impact, Zhang Xun did not submit the paper in advance. Zhang Xun remembered the crop field in Dujia Village, which seemed to be very troublesome to get water, especially when there was a drought, he had to take water from the well in his yard and then pick it up to the ground for irrigation, running back and forth, which was very tiring. Zhang Xun wondered if he could refer to the water conservancy facilities in the previous life to make self-irrigation facilities that can be realized now. Two hours passed, Zhang Xun found nothing, after all, he did not observe the terrain, water source and other environmental factors in detail, so he had to give up temporarily.

After lunch, Zhang Xun didn't want to sleep, and when he saw that there were still a few useless scratch papers, he simply drew a few chess endgames and studied them. The afternoon passed quickly, and Zhang Xun also studied the endgame thoroughly. Nothing to do, go back to sleep.

When he got up in the morning, Zhang Xun thought that he could finally leave the examination room. After playing Tai Chi a few times, it was eight o'clock, and the staff of the examination institute put away the papers and left, and Zhang Xun also left the examination institute and returned to Zhang's mansion.

The marking of this examination is still the imperial court and the Hanlin Academy, each sent three personnel to read the papers, and the first three jinshi and the first must be circled by five marking officers; The second class 12 people were born as jinshi, and four of them were red as the examiners, and the 21 people in the third class were born as jinshi, and three of the graders were red. Zhang Xun's volume is all right in front of it, and the article "Shi Shuo" is a peerless article, but during the imperial examination, the Confucian relics were temporarily used to suppress the literary qi, so that there was no Confucian Temple to spread the saint to the world. Zhang Xun's papers, all six marking officers were circled red, and the other two third-class candidates were all circled by five marking officers. However, the marking officer only determines the top three, and the ranking is hand-picked by King Lu Yubi or re-examined by the palace examination.

The top three were decided, and the six examiners entered the palace to see King Lu, who read the three volumes in turn, opened the paste, and saw that "Shi Shuo" was really written by Zhang Xun, so he appointed Zhang Xun as the champion. Ren Chao, the Huiyuan Lang of Yanzhou Mansion, was named as an example, and as for Tanhua, it was obtained by Feng Yannian, the second son of Feng Siping, the head of the household department. King Lu said: "Don't announce it for the time being, let these three people enter the palace now, and the widow wants them to tell a story to the widow, and it can't be another good story." ”

Zhang Xun, Ren Chao, and Feng Yannian entered the palace and saluted King Lu. King Lu said: "The three of you are outstanding, and the few people come up with a question, and you tell me a story with "harsh government is fiercer than a tiger". Ren Chao and Feng Yannian talked about one separately, and King Lu felt that it was a bit far-fetched and not very satisfied, so he looked at Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun said to King Lu: "The story that Xiaosheng told His Majesty is called "The Snake Catcher Says"" and then read this classic text of Liu Zongyuan. King Lu shouted three times in a row, and Ren Chao and Feng Yannian were also impressed. King Lu said: "Tomorrow will be held Qionglin banquet, you go back first!" The three of them saluted and retired. King Lu asked Mr. Hu to announce it.

Zhang Xun returned to Zhang's mansion and called the steward of Tian and said: "I have been appointed as the champion by His Majesty King Lu, and now the list has been announced, and it is expected that there will be an official messenger to report the good news in a while, you go and prepare the reward quickly." Steward Tian said: "Congratulations to the master, the champion of high school." The small ones go and prepare immediately. ”

After a while, there was a sound of good news at the intersection of the street where Zhang's house is located: "Good news, Master Zhang of Laiwu City, the top student in the high school Yichou Science Palace." Steward Tian opened the gate of Zhang's Mansion and saw six officials banging gongs and shouting good news.

There are six officials, three of whom are from the Ministry of Rites, and three of whom are from Qufufu, the capital. Steward Tian didn't know the rules, so he asked Zhang Xun, "Why are the clothes of the six officials wearing different?" Zhang Xun explained. At this time, the six officials who reported the good news had already arrived at the door of Zhang's mansion, and shouted loudly while knocking on the door: "Master Zhang of your mansion is the champion of high school, and the little ones give good news to your mansion." Please open the door. Steward Tian opened the door, and the six officials reported the good news to Zhang Xun in unison: "Congratulations to Master Zhang for being the champion of high school" Zhang Xun said: "There are six workers, this is happy money." One of them gave twenty taels of silver. The six officials said happily: "Thank you, Master Zhang", and then handed the champion dress to Zhang Xun respectfully and left. Zhang Xun knew why those officials were so happy, first, Zhang Xun gave each person a reward of twenty taels of silver, which was already a lot, (Zhang Xun couldn't do it, twenty taels of silver ingots was already the smallest in Zhang's mansion.) Second, to give the champion Lang good news, no reward is rushed to come, you must know that the legend of the champion Lang is a Wenqu star descending to earth! Then the residents of the nearby streets came to congratulate them, and this time the steward Tian had already changed the broken silver, and each person gave five taels. When it was already dusk when all the congratulatory people were sent away, Xin Lan and Wen Xin came to the courtyard, Xin Lan smiled at Wen Xin and said, "I think our husband looks like a champion Lang! Zhang Xun didn't know that this was the two women laughing at him, so he said: "I'm happy today! Then I remembered the two sentences of the Huangmei Opera "The Female Concubine" in my previous life, and hummed: "I have also been to the Qionglin Banquet, and I have also beaten the horse in front of the Royal Street." "The two girls laughed and the branches trembled.

Zhang Xun returned to the room and changed into a champion suit, which fit very well. looked in the mirror, and asked Xin Lan and Wen Xin, "Husband, wear this champion uniform, right?" Xin Lan and Wen Xin said: "Handsome" Zhang Xun took off the champion uniform and hung it up, after all, tomorrow is the official time to wear it.

On February 28, at five o'clock in the morning, Zhang Xun and 36 other new scholars stood at the middle gate of the royal city and waited to enter the palace. Zhang Xun and the others waited for an hour at the middle gate of the palace, at seven o'clock, after the hundred officials entered the palace first, Zhang Xun and other thirty-six Jinshi first lined up in two columns, each led by Zhang Xun and Ren Chao (champion and Bangyan) to enter, until the palace of Qinzheng stopped and stood and waited. At this time, the court musicians on both sides of the eaves of the Qinzheng Palace began to play music, and the performance was naturally the "Zhonghe Shao Music" that could only be used in the palace ceremony. After the music was played, the Rite Department Shilang (concurrently serving as the dean of the Examination Institute), the Hongskuan Temple, the Secretary of the School Administration and the Hanlin Academy, three Hanlin (six marking officers) went to invite His Majesty King Lu to come in a sedan chair. After the arrival of King Lu, he sat down in the Qinzheng Palace, and the hundred officials and the new science and technology scholars bowed three times. After the salute, Hongkuan Siqing began to read aloud the edict of His Majesty King Lu's personal letter: "The widow in the second month of the second year of the second year, Yixin, the national tribute test, the first class to give the Jinshi and the first, the second to give the Jinshi origin, the third to the same Jinshi origin. ”

After the edict was read, Zhang Xun and other thirty-six new science and technology scholars officially changed from gongshi to jinshi, and then it was time to pass on the roll call. Hongkuan Siqing started the roll call from the first place on the yellow list in turn, and sang until the fifteenth place in the top three. Every time one person sings, that person will come out of the line to the middle of the royal road and bow three more times.

Next, there are many rituals such as horseback riding through the streets, banquets from the Ministry of Rites, thanksgiving to the temple, and waiting for the conferment of officials, which will not end until the eighth day of the third month. Zhang Xun sighed, "It's really tiring! Zhang Xun thought to himself, "This is still the Wenchang Continent, Qin did not unify the six countries, there was no emperor, only a king." Otherwise, Zhang Xun would not have bowed three times, he would have to kneel three times and bow nine times, and the etiquette would be much more complicated, and he would have been glad enough. ”

Zhang Xun didn't expect that he was actually awarded the post of Yiyuan County Commander, and after learning of the appointment, Zhang Xun went to Lord Qin's mansion to ask the reason. It turned out that as soon as "Two Songs of Compassion for Nong" came out, the original Yiyuan County Commander felt more and more that Yiyuan was a place of right and wrong, and applied for a transfer a few days ago. Last month, the Ministry of Household Affairs also held a grudge against you because of the large sum of money you made in your "Two Songs of Compassion for Nong", so they proposed to His Majesty that you take over and go to the post immediately. According to the example, the champion was originally sent to the county order, and His Majesty agreed.

Zhang Xun knew that he must open up the situation as soon as possible after taking office, otherwise he was afraid that he would be impeached. I am still very satisfied with the post of Yiyuan County Commander, and since I have entered the officialdom, I can't be afraid of struggle.